


Shadows ascending

by Clothdoll



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Cameos, F/M, female - Freeform, most characters are original
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 16:42:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30041673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clothdoll/pseuds/Clothdoll
Summary: Rish - a human freelance captain rescues a stranded Gul, and gets sucked into trying to save Cardassia from the Dominion.some smut, some non-con, light torture - no gore or drama for the sake of drama.set in DS9 timeline just after the Cardassians retake Terok Nor
Relationships: Original Female Character / Original Male Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 1





	1. 1

With a shudder docking clamps released the Mandrake, thrusters fired and the ship was freed from Terok Nor, Rish let out a long happy sigh of relief. 

It always felt good to get away from the oppressively hot air on Terok Nor, the warm-blooded humanoids could only sweat and suffer in the Cardassian heat. It would hit like a physical blow as the airlock wheeled open. She had special angst about space stations, regardless of who owned them. Every time she docked, giving autonomy of her craft over to the hulking flotsam it felt like being trapped. Somehow being a barnacle on the belly of a whale made space seem just that bit more endless & menacing.   
“Mandrake, you are clear of the station” announced a faceless Cardassian whom Rish knew to be Cornat Nal, unofficially she had procured some frowned upon Cardassian pheromone enhancers for her, in exchange for good information. Officially she had no idea who it was undocking her  
“Received Deep space- uh, I meanTerok Nor” Rish said just as anonymously while tapping the console and engaging full thrusters. The Cardassians had only been back on DS9 for a few months, but the flow of traffic had barely slowed - well, non federation anyhow. Under the control of the Federation DS9 had grown in importance, becoming an important hub not only to the newly accessible Gamma quadrant, but to Bajor and on. A change of ownership, amidst the non-aggression pacts that all the empires were scrambling to sign, had done little to change that. Of course human faces like hers, were scarcer now, but not completely unseen. The Dominion and Cardassian military on Terok Nor seemed content to let them continue their business- as long as they were independents, Rish wondered how long that would last. 

She looked up from the console at the empty stations around her, the Mandrake was a small ship, Rish had traded and bartered her way up from a salvaged shuttle and it suited her needs. Cargo-hold just big enough to pay her way, spare quarters enough for an occasional passenger, and crew.   
Rish had not made a conscious decision to leave her home planet, a small mostly human colony deep in the heart of Federation space. As a young girl she had looked up at the stars while her mother told her tales of how humans had spread through the stars, encountering marvels that to a child's mind sounded like fairytales. She had gazed up at the endless star studded sky and dreamed of visiting all the sparkle of light. Of seeing those marvels for herself, soaring like a bird between their fathomless empty sea. Then -that day- had come, the fire, and she had been plucked up into that sky by a demon. As she grew, surrounded by this new amazing universe filled with exotic alien races, she tol;d herself that she didn't even miss home. Not that there was any way of getting back there, even if she had wanted to.   
She rarely kept the same crew from month to month, long journeys in her small ship made for close quarters and she invariably grew bored of staring at the same faces. Bedding the same faces. Sorting out the same petty arguments. It was far easier to pick up needed skills as she went along job by job, they didn’t get too attached, didn’t pry too deeply, ask too many questions.   
Sometimes people would stay for a few missions or return after a few months, space was still a risky frontier and, with war rumbling on several borders things could change in a flash of a disruptor blast

She had become a jack-of-all-trades, she knew just enough to keep her ship ticking over, and usually enough latinum on hand to pay for any repairs she couldn’t do. The Mandrake was small enough to not look threatening, or so valuable as to be targeted by pirates. When she was unlucky enough to be accosted, the small size made the Mandrake maneuverable (if a touch predictable on automated evasions) and packed enough of a bite to put off casual pirates. Although generally, Rish didn’t go out of her way to make enemies, always holding up her end of any deal with customers and merchants alike. 

On her last run, skimming the edge of Cardassian space, she had been mining on an insignificant-looking asteroid belt after a good tip-off. She had prospected some precious gems before catching the attention of a Cardassian patrol ship. Rish had been forced to hurriedly scoop up what she could (barely a tenth of what she had mined) and warp out to Terok Nor in the hopes of unloading it at Quarks & upgrading (repairing) her replicators. Of course, Quark had given her way less for it than she had hoped, but, as one of the rules of Acquisition (probably) said - never do business in a hurry! Still, the 2 cases of Kanar the Ferengi had thrown in to soften the blow would no doubt come in handy at some point, replicated alcohol was always terrible. 

Terok Nor was now far behind her, Rish sighed and stretched, the Mandrake would be in warp for a few more hours, through some pretty empty space, there was no real need for her to man the con, this sector of space was strategically unimportant & uninteresting, so rarely held any traffic. She could afford to sleep for a while. 

The interior of the Mandrake was a neutral federation white colour, bright and supposedly airy, the bridge led aft along a T junction first the dining/living area and opposite a med bay, then along the T were the main quarters and a turbo lift which could go down to the cargo holds or up to the barracks and a makeshift jail cell - you could never be too careful. The rest of the upper deck was full of extra computer hardware and weapons arrays - you could never be too careful. One day she dreamed of getting enough money for a cloak for the ship, but that would need a big haul, and her luck was just never that good! 

"Computer - how long till we reach our destination?”  
[At current speed we will reach destination in 8 hours..45 minutes.. and 8 seconds]

Rish nodded and settled down in her bed “wake me in 6 hours. Lights off"

Precisely 6 hours later the com chirped, the ship’s computer announcing the elapsed time. Rish sighed calling for lights, and barefooted walked to the replicator   
"Gelat" more indifferent chirping, and in a haze of lights a hot steaming cup of bitter liquid appeared- what passed for coffee on Cardassia. She wrapped her hands around it and sat back on the bed crossed-legged, savoring the earthy aroma. It didn't smell of home, but she always found it a grounding aroma. In her imagination, the scents tied her to rich, loamy soils - tho in truth, the soil which was home to the gelat plant was hot and dust and as far removed from those images as it could be. Still, out in the void of space that didn’t matter, the replicated drink no more knew what it was like to feel the Kardassi sun on its foliage than she knew what life on her ancestral planet felt like.   
Rish looked around her quarters, sipping the gelat, and suddenly felt lonely. Perhaps she should spend a few months running passengers, or helping the federation move refugees around - sure the pay would be rubbish, but it would provide some distraction. Despite the incredible speeds reached in warp, space was a huge expanse, endlessly empty, devoid of life. To cling to life meant to cling to planets. To be truly free in this universe it was the void that offered that freedom. That often came at the expense of companionship. 

“Computer - music” there was a momentary chirp and the ship filled with a lively instrumental score. Her mind silenced, for now, Rish set aside the empty mug, stripped, and stepped into the refresher. It was sonic of course, it didn't have the same soothing luxury that a real hot bath had, but it was still invigorating, and washed away the lingering smell of Terok Nor.   
She scowled as she looked in the bathroom mirror, noticing several bottles on the shelf. He had left them there, Elijah. The cocky pilot she had hired for a mission six months ago. His confident manner had wormed his way into her bed, for once she had felt like what they had was real. Right up until he had tried to take her ship and she had flushed- No. she wasn't going to think about that. Elijah was the whole reason she was alone on the Mandrake, too scared to hire another crew she had been accepting rubbish merchant runs, and mining out gems to get by.  
She had originally planned to return to the asteroid and finish mining, but no doubt by now the Cardassians had scanned it after running her off and sent one of their ships in to finish the job.

Instead, she headed to a junker yard a few systems outside of the badlands, salvage wasn't her preferred gig, but sometimes it made a change of scenery - it was how she had acquired a lot of her firepower. This junker subsisted on a small moon orbiting a gas giant around a nondescript star, it felt like the ass end of known space. It had grown from a few habitat pods shoved together to a conglomerate of dead ship hulls stacked around and welded into one sprawling monstrosity. The chief of this rather inaptly named “sweet horizons” had taken to merely towing (or having the junkers tow) salvageable wrecks back to his moon and crashing them on the surface. The hulls were repaired to hold air and could be stripped at leisure.

“Sweet horizons this is Mandrake”  
“Hey, Mandrake” the voice on the con channel sounded happy to hear from her “ s’hore glad to hear yo’ voice- are y’ stopping by?”  
Rish laughed “well I didn’t come all this way to see how the weather is Joe” The voice laughed with her   
“Well beam your butt down here & I’ll fill y’ in. I got some mighty good info that’s right up yo’ game”  
Rish tapped the console to acquire synchronous orbit and beamed down.  
V  
“Sweet horizons” was anything but sweet, Rish materialized onto a grimy transported pad, the only clear floor space visible. There was just enough light to make out the piles of hardware, wires, and cables from light-years around. Just about anything could be found here -if you had forever to dig for it! Rish peered through the gloom “Joe ?? Joe - where the hell are you, you old dog!” Some muffled crashing and cursing came from across the room and Rish headed towards it stumbling over jumbles of tech that could be worth a fortune - or nothing.

“Joe! When are you gonna clean up! You’ll get space rats in this lot and it will all be worthless!” She caught sight of him in a bright workshop off to one side and continued precariously over. Joe was a short man, made even shorter from a life of salvage, often stooped over picking apart larger chunks of tech for its components or crawling about in jeffries tubes in his disassembling. He had a round, amenable look, accentuated by his magnifying monocle - totally a vanity item, he had countless other bits of tech that would do the job, but Joe had found it and fallen in love. He sported a mustache but was thin on top,   
“Rish, Rish, come in m’ darling!” He stopped tinkering to embrace her “ yo’ should come around more often! Y’ know I’ll see yo’ right” He pulled her tighter, failing to discreetly press himself into her. Rish wriggled herself free while gently kissing him on the nose

“Now, now Joe- I know you don't see me that often, but work first huh?” Rish knew that she would have to sleep with him before leaving, it was the best way to be assured good tip-offs from him, and it never hurt to have a junker in your good books for cheap parts. Besides, Joe might be somewhat older than her, but his tastes were simple, and he was always clean and generally respectful. Reluctantly Joe put her down ”I guess yo’ right Rish, y’all did always get me fired up though! Come with me, we’ll eat ‘n’ drink an’ I will tell all” She nodded and exited the workshop for the chaos of the corridor, she had been to Sweet Horizons enough times to know the way through this labyrinth of metal and superconductors to the living quarters. Joe was happy enough to follow her - giving her ass a gentle pinch if she slowed down, playing their usual game Rish made little noises of pain and excitement for his benefit while inwardly cursing the plethora of stuff underfoot. 

Upon reaching his living quarters she stopped in shock, they were bright and clear a stark contrast to normal.  
“Joe what the heck happened here??”  
“Ah, well. Y’know” he said waddling over to the kitchen area  
“No.. I really don’t..” she sunk into a comfortable looking sofa, stroking the clean expensive looking fabric. She watched him pull down a bottle of Klingon Blood wine more confused than before. Joe grabbed 2 glasses down - completely ignoring the tradition of drinking blood wine from a large tankard - and poured the blood wine for two  
“Well, Rish, times’a changing” he handed one to her and pulled up a chair “do you know all this business with the wormhole? “ she nodded, taking the glass - sea slugs on Tyros IV’s frozen moon knew about the damn wormhole, the Dominion and the reclamation of Terok Nor by the Cardassians.  
“Business has been good Rish, lots of salvage ‘n’ lots of customers.. War is al’ays good for business”  
“ Yes,” she countered “ But when have you ever been one for fancy furniture and .. well” She gestured around the room. Joe laughed adjusting his monocle - it had the unsettling effect of magnifying his eye to an onlooker as if he had squint eyes  
“Well, one of those d-o-mini-on ships was brought in as salvage a few weeks ago, an’ looky at what ole Joe found” he gestured to a side room.   
She looked over and gasped, rising from the couch she walked over to get a better look “ she’s… a Vorta?? isn't she?” she turned to him for confirmation, having only heard stories of them before. There had been several on Terok Nor when she left, but being high ranking, they did not dirty themselves with the common areas, instead they were either in their quarters with a squadron of Jem’Hadar or in the wardroom with Gul Dukat and Damar plotting the next part of their invasion. She studied the Vorta, fascinated, apparently they were an advanced clone, created by these mysterious Founders, this creature was somehow a female, delicately blueish, with long curved ears, weak violet eyes, and swept-back black hair. It studied her back with disinterested arrogance. 

“Sure is,” Joe said joining her, a stupidly happy grin on his face “I deactivated her self-destruct chip so she can’t kill herself, and well... “ he blushed slightly.  
“What’s your name Vorta?” Rish asked. The Vorta studied her for a long moment, but said nothing “Where’s your Jem’Hadar?”   
“Her Name’s Ciras” Joe offered “took me a while to get it out of her, her Death-squad died when the ship was destroyed, but she was sealed into her quarters- no one knows she’s alive, well she barely was..”  
“So you kept her?” Rish raised an eyebrow at Joe “I didn't think kidnapping was your thing”  
“Ah, well, Rish.. It gets awful lonely out here.. “ Joe looked a little sheepish  
“Joe! you mean to tell me your-” she paused confused for a moment “ wait - does it even have a ..??” she gestured at the silent Vorta  
He sighed.. “No, I guess those shapeshifter things engineered that out - unnecessary … but they have to eat so “ he shrugged, his meaning was clear “ yo’ sure do though Rish, I know you have all the right equipment ” He pulled her close and kissed her, grinding against her, the disinterested eyes of the Vorta upon them.   
She kissed him back for a moment before pulling away to study the Vorta more. He had her behind a forcefield, inside the cell was a simple bed and a table to eat at. The Vorta sat on her bed, seemingly poised, but also resigned. Without purpose. Rish regarded her somewhat suspiciously, the Vorta themselves didn't seem to be a threat, but she knew they were usually closely followed by the Jem’hadar - hopeful she would be long gone before they arrived, or perhaps the Dominion thought this Vorta had died when her ship was wrecked.   
Certainly, had Joe not deactivated her self destruct this one probably would have, perhaps she had been knocked unconscious when the ship was destroyed and not had an opportunity to use it before being ‘rescued’  
“So.. you did all this to impress her?” she gestured at the nice furnishings with her empty glass. Joe looked sheepish again  
“Yes, well… ain't she pretty? I thought she might.. Relax a little if the place was a bit more… feminine”   
Rish laughed with genuine amusement. Vorta’s had no sense of aesthetics, and no desire beyond serving their gods - Joe was barking up the wrong tree there! 

Rish and Joe spent the evening talking about old times and the new Dominion threat, the Vorta seemingly asleep laid down on her bed, but no doubt keenly listening.   
“So, I know you have something for me Joe” Rish smiled warmly. They had eaten and retired to one of Joe’s new sofas. Ciras sat awkwardly next to Joe, he had let her out of her cell, she acquiesced but seemed ill at ease, severed from her Gods, and with her Jem’Hadar gone she was existing outside of her comfort zone.  
“Yes, yes - indeed ..” he padded Ciras’ knee “tell her Ciras” The Vorta turned, and regarded Rish for a moment “well.. Go on” he prompted  
“ My ship was in pursuit of a Klingon warbird, I was retrieving a Cardassian for the Founders, both ships were destroyed in the process” Joe nodded, interjecting “ We found pieces of the ship, but not enough to account for the whole thing, it’s possible an escape pod launched, or that a section of the hull big enough to hole integrity crashed into a nearby class L planet”  
“So the Dominion wants this Cardassian retrieved?”   
Ciras nodded “I should think it is more than just us looking for him”   
“Oh? Prisoner - or a spy?” Rish asked curiously now   
“Neither, Gul Ganon was on his way to talk with the Founders, but he had, a little trouble with the Klingon ship that he acquired”  
“A Gul ?” She had heard that name of course “ surely the whole of Cardassia is looking for him, why involve me?”  
“We - the Founders, would rather wrap this matter up quietly. As I said, you are not the only one who would be looking for him. If he is still alive, the sooner he is found the better - for all of us” With that Ciras rose and returned to her cell, her eyes regaining that far away look.  
Rish stared at Joe… “Gul Ganon ??” He shrugged…   
“ I promised her I would assist -in return for some favors…”   
“Well, I had better get started” Rish sighed, she had serious reservations that anything that was good for the Vorta would be good for ‘all of us’, but held that information to herself.   
Joe sensed that he would gain no favors from her today, he scratched his head absently and dug out a PADD “here, this is the coordinates of the Dominion ship, and the L class planet. As far as our salvage team could tell, the Dominion ship did not get a chance to send out a distress call, so it is likely that the Klingon warbird didn't either. Whatever happened, it took them out fast.”  
Rish nodded, there was more going on with these two ships than the Vorta was letting on, but she really could use the latinum, and rescuing a Gul would be bound to be worth a lot of it.   
“How long since the ship went down?” Rish looked around at the furniture - Joe certainly hadn’t re-arranged his quarters overnight  
Ciras spoke “Our ships went down over two weeks ago”   
“There’s no point me hanging about here then, if this Cardassian is still alive he’s gonna be in a poor shape now. You're sure no-one else has found the wreckage? Why didn't your salvage team go looking for it ?”   
Joe shrugged helplessly “the tech-stripping crew weren't too keen on potentially facing down a squad of Jem’Hadar, Ciras assures me that IF they survived also they will have run out of white and massacred each other by now, all that remains is to find the Gul and retrieve him”   
“If he's still alive” Rish muttered  
Despite Joe’s protests and promises, Rish insisted on beaming back to the Mandrake right away, two weeks. If there were any survivors, by now the whole of the Alpha quadrant must be on the lookout - surely such a ranking Gul would have been noticed as missing by now. Something did not add up!


	2. 2

The Mandrake dropped smoothly out of warp into an unremarkable system, one star - average, a few inner rocky planets, one barely habitable planet with a moon, and an outer asteroid belt. Rish cautiously scanned the system for other ships- another Klingon warbird up her tail was the last thing she wanted, but sensors revealed nothing. The system appeared to be as empty as promised. Hurriedly she swung an orbit of the system all sensors searching for ships hidden behind the sun, then after finding nothing obvious she maneuvered to a high orbit around the planet - at first there appeared to be no sign of any ship debris or escape pod, but in the second sweep she picked up something faint.   
[Life signs. 1. Cardassian] the computer reported   
“Computer” the console chirped in recognition “ lock on to life signs and beam aboard”  
[Unable to comply] it said dispassionately after a few moments. Rish tapped at the console readout -trying to manually cut through the interference jamming the signal, after several unsuccessful attempts she sighed - well of course it wouldn’t be that easy. Resignedly she took the Mandrake down for a landing on the planet.

The Cardassian had gone down in the planet’s northerly landmass, vegetation appeared sparse and the white frozen landscape glared harshly at her. The planet seemed pretty unremarkable, long chains of land joined by mostly frozen deep fjords in the north, giving way to more liquid water nearer its equator, with steep, snow-tipped mountain peaks on all latitudes. There were some strips of green that seemed to function as forests and nestled between them open green and white plains, the Mandrake would have to set down in one of those.

The terminus balefully approached as she scanned for a large enough open area to set down. Mandrake, it needed a good-sized clearing, and there seemed to be nothing suitable near to the life-signs, eventually, however she found a plain just large enough to take the ship, it would be a good day’s hike to the crashed pod. Hopefully, the Cardassian would have seen her land and strike out to meet her. No doubt he would be keen to be rescued. 

It was already nightfall by the time she set down, Rish, with little else to do set about packing a bag of provisions. Sensor sweeps of the area reported that there were no large life forms in the vicinity. Glancing at the other readouts Rish saw it was already -20 outside and falling fast with the setting sun. Reluctantly she knew she would have to wait till daybreak to head out, and if the Gul died in the night so be it. Rish set proximity alerts around the ship and set the computer to constantly scan the sky for any approaching ships, then settled down for a good night's sleep. 

The Mandrake had indeed landed in what would best be described as a grassy plain, the green stuff covering the ground wasn't quite grass, but it did the same job, and the trees surrounding it looked mushroomy, spiraling out of the frozen ground but with broad flat photosynthesizing fronds. A cold wind still whistled, the sun feebly warming through thin clouds, but the trees lifted the brunt of it off the plain.   
Small hairy creatures scattered or watched curiously as Rish emerged from the ship. Having never seen anything as large as her they did not know to be afraid of this new creature. There seemed to be no birds, and the only noise seemed to be the wind through the mushroom-trees. Rish judged that she would have 6 hours of daylight to get to the life signs, hopefully only 3 hours or less hiking if the Gul had seen her land and set out. After all, for him, it would be all downhill, while she would have the hike up the mountainsides.

As she hiked higher the wind picked up and soon it howled around her, its icy bite chilling her.. There were occasionally small bushes with berries on them, another day Rish would have stopped to scan them with the tricorder, but with the sun already past its zenith, she pressed onwards. Sensing, resignedly that the Cardassian had indeed NOT started hiking towards her, she pressed onwards, snacking on a ration bar. She would have to reach their crash site or hunker down for a very cold night on the hillside. The Jem’hadar were still a potential threat, although the computer had not picked up their life signs, she could not discount them. Rish had seen some of the Jem’hadar on Terok Nor, their faces showing a single-minded devotion to violence, the Ketracel White barely able to tame them enough for the Vorta’s to control. She knew that she would be no match for even one of them, grimly she hoped that the Cardassian had managed to finish them off and that he would not mistake her for a stray - shoot first and ask later. 

“Of course” Rish muttered angrily “ of course he crashed halfway up a frozen mountain… no one ever crashes on a nice sunny valley, next to, say a well-stocked river - or even on a nice inhabited planet with a functioning communications satellite” she muttered and grumbled to herself - anything to take her mind off the biting wind and her aching legs.  
With the rising of the land, the footing had become looser, the few trees seemed to spread out roots for tens of meters, which barely seemed to penetrate the loose rocky ground. Every other step she stumbled and cursed. Why had the Gul not headed out to meet her? A ranking man in the Cardassian military could surely have seen her land and immediately set out!! 

The tricorder beeped, startling Rish out of her angry reverie- the crashed pod lay just ahead. She looked up. Blinking through the wind, she saw it, barely visible through a coating of frost on its surface. Rish frowned- that shouldn't happen, the pod must be malfunctioning. She hunkered down beside a tree, gaining a little respite from the aching wind, and pulled out a scope.Looking for any sign of movement she scanned the area- it seemed deserted. There were no footprints in the snow- but given the depth of the fresh snow she had hiked through it seemed unlikely that a footprint would be visible for long. Under normal circumstances Rish loved the snow, her ancestors had lived (so she had been told) on the northerly part of a continent named Europe, with endless evergreen forests and long, frozen winters. She had never seen it herself and had always laughed, comparing the frozen wilderness of deep space to the tundras in the holos.The bitter icy snow, in reality, was far less romantic, and her only shelter lay ahead in the frozen pod - she hoped the Jem’hadar were not waiting inside

As she moved forward concentrating on the pod something caught her ankle, and she fell. Looking back she screamed and kicked out - a Jem’Hadar. Frozen solid. Annoyed with herself she realised she had been so unwary as to literally trip over its frozen corpse. A huge phaser burn told Rish all she needed to know, it was dead. Eyes more alert she scanned the area, more dead Jem’hadar.. 6 corpses all frozen solid and sporting phaser burns. 

Rish approached the pod with more caution, wary of any active self-defense systems. But no, the pod also had its share of phaser burns. The pod had bounced along the side of the mountain before hitting a large outcrop, leaving a sizable scar behind it. Somewhat fortunately for its occupants, it had come to rest the right way up, and the exit hatch clearly visible - but mangled. Rish pulled out her ex-Starfleet phaser and set it to stun, shielded behind a boulder she called out to the pod “Ganon!” Silence rang out against the wind “Gul Ganon?!”  
Nothing. Rish sighed and cautiously approached the exit hatch, “can you hear me Ganon, I’m here to rescue you?!” Still silence and the wind. Nothing moved, and the pod seemed dormant. At the entrance, she flipped open the tricorder. He was definitely in there, alive - but just barely.

Holstering her instruments, she set down the heavy backpack at the doorway, with night now approaching, one way or another she would be stuck here till morning. She tapped at the control panel - nothing, it was dead. With a heave and a shove, she forced open the hatch and peered into the cold dark interior, far too cold for Cardassian comfort  
“Ganon ?” she whispered, her eyes taking a few moments to adjust to the dim interior after the glare of the frozen world. Inside smelt vaguely of ichor and blood, stale. She hoped it was from dead Jem’hadar. At the back in the corner she spotted him, slumped “..Gul Ganon??” her voice more insistent. The slumped figure did not move, one hand loosely curled around a phaser.

Rish frowned and retrieved her bags from the doorway. There seemed to be little immediate threat. The Klingon consoles were unfamiliar to her, but she tapped at what might be a good place for a light switch and the cabin spluttered with a little light- so some systems still held power, but the way everything flickered probably not for much longer 

Rish knelt down in front of the unconscious Cardassian, he seemed very pale. She reached out a hand to him, and tried to straighten him up, her other hand fumbling for her old, battered medical tricorder. Begrudgingly it chirruped and scanned him, life signs were weak but still there. It indicated he was dangerously cold, and it diagnosed some light trauma to the head. Probably he had stumbled backward and hit his head on the bulkhead. Rish remembered that Cardassians were coldblooded- unconscious and with the pod’s life support failing he must have slipped into hypothermia. Glancing around, the spartan warriors’ escape pod seemed ill-equipped at best. Typical of Klingons. Not a luxury to be seen, barely a bunk to lay on, she snorted, a whole case of blood wine though, undamaged. 

She looked again at Gul Ganon. She could not start a fire inside the pod, and no shelter from the biting winds and dropping temperatures outside, with a sigh she realized that the fastest way to warm him would be with shared body heat. Rish pulled the hatch shut as best she could and dug out the survival blankets and a field ration then turned back to the inert Cardassian. His cuirass was almost frozen on him, she fumbled for the catches and unceremoniously dumped it on the floor. It had scorch marks across its front- so he had not dispatched the Jem’hadar off too easily, no matter how severe the ketracel white withdrawals were.

She looked at the blend of shimmering scales and grey skin fascinated, in the flickering light it seemed as if the scales held a myriad of blues and greys all shimmering slightly. “Focus Rish!” she scolded herself. He was the first Cardassian she had seen quite this close and personal. She managed to roll him into a supine position on top of one of the emergency blankets, and after stripping - with a half hearted sigh - to her undergarments, she loosened Ganon’s black shirt to expose his chest. Rish wrapped the other blanket around both of them, and with a shiver, she lay with her back against him and pulled his arm around her. 

He was -so- cold, she shivered as the reptilian body soaked up all her heat. It felt as if he were draining her energy, life force along with her body heat, she forced herself to press against him.

How long had she been out in space alone? Suddenly it seemed like a long time. She blushed, suddenly aware of a need. She flushed, how could her body think of such a thing here! Now. surrounded with dead Jem’hadar, and the unconscious body of the elite Cardassian military. Actually, no, she tried to stop thinking about it, that only increased the sudden fire inside her.   
He was handsome though, Rish had seen the Gul on Terok Nor - from a distance. She had been sat at Quarks drinking Kanar and trying to trade something to the Ferengi when Ganon and his second - Rojok had strode through. She remembered his confident piercing eyes, staring out across the promenade. He had seemed so exotic, so unattainable. There was something about the reptilian form that spoke of danger, a response coded into her DNA from a millennia ago. From a time when her mammalian ancestors ran in terror from the dinosaurs, and onwards through prehistory when reptiles were a real threat to the survival of humanity.   
The wide scaled ridges of his neck, how they blended into the ridges on his face and the Chufa, Rish realized her hand had wandered in her reverie, she felt a momentary pang of guilt, but the fire in her would not subside. Arguing with herself, she could use all the heat she could muster to try and warm the stone-cold Cardassian up, her hand delved between her thighs with more purpose, after all, he would never know. 

Rish startled awake, an arm wrapped tightly around her chest- hand firmly on her breast. She breathed, recalling the situation, the Gul. He was wrapped tightly to her, his subconscious instinct drawing him to the life giving heat source. The back of his arm still felt cold to her touch despite the warm flesh against her back. With some effort Rish managed to extract herself from his grasp, he murmured some complaint in Kardasi as she did so.  
Outside the wind still howled, and by the brightening grey light seeping in through the broken hatch, morning had definitely arrived. Shivering, Rish dressed and with a ration bar and retreated back under the covers to think. The unconscious Gul did not stir, but his breaths seemed more even and his complexion less pale. He seemed out of immediate danger, but he would need to be awake and on his feet for them to leave the planet. Rish watched him sleep for a few moments, he was clearly not fit for hiking today. She figured he was about average height for a Cardassian, a good half a foot taller than herself, with a long wide neck, heavily adorned with his species scales and ridges.   
Ending her examination, she wriggled out of the warm cocoon and pulled on her jacket hurriedly, the air bitingly cold. Rish wrapped the inert Gul tightly in the emergency blankets then turned her attention to the crashed pod. Possibly the life support could be fixed- perhaps the firefight had not given him time to attempt repairs- or, perhaps more likely she could salvage some useful parts. The Klingon technology however remained infuriatingly unfamiliar, every time a console flickered to life it died again beneath her fingers. With a growl of frustration Rish banged her fist on the lifeless console, it was hopeless. The Cardassian had not yet stirred.   
Unwilling to face another ration bar so soon Rish took her tricorder out into the forest, the wind still howled, and the trees were greyed out by a thin mist. An hour or so’s careful foraging produced enough roots, berries and mushroom-tree fronds to feed the both of them, she had been mindful of how quickly the crashed pod merged into the mists.

Despite its chilly climate this out of the way planet was not without its charms, most of the plant life was if not actually tasty, not completely poisonous. The mushroom trees were pretty in their own way, and the small creatures seemed bolder now - probably already forgetting the startling arrival of the pod and its hostile occupants. It seemed that the days were not that long, and by the time Rish had built a small fire just outside the escape hatch dusk was drawing in. There had been no sign of any other Jem’Hadar, and the corpses accounted for a whole unit, she felt safe enough to bank the fire enough to last through the night. Its extra warmth managing to raise the interior temperature of the pod slightly. Probably still far too cold for Cardassian comfort however. 

The simple stew bubbled over the fire for a while, it had been a long time since Rish had actually cooked something, instead of the convenience of replicated food. The smells from the pot reminded her how much she missed it, and drew memories of home and her family - many many light years from this lonely planet. The stew had a bitter green taste, but seemed nourishing enough. After eating her fill, Rish poured some into a bowl for the Cardasdian. She sat legs drawn up underneath her looking at the sleeping form for a moment. They really were quite beautiful, the curving scaly ridge across his face, the spoon shaped chuva leading down to full yet foreign lips. The flared neck ridges, unconsciously she reached out to touch one, fascinated. The scales still felt worryingly cool beneath her touch. She trailed her fingers along the ridge to some slightly darker scales within the pattern. As she touched them a low rumble came from the sleeping form, startled she jumped. The noise was deep and primal, it raised gooseflesh, but he stirred no further. Emboldened she returned her exploration, the neck ridges seemed firmer this time, the colours darker. She pressed more firmly, and was rewarded by the exotic rumble, heat rose inside her.  
The Cardassians eye flew open, his hand grabbed her arm before she could jump away. For a moment his eyes were wild and she struggled to get away, but his grip was vice like.   
“Get off me!” she struggled again “I’m here to rescue you” They struggled for another moment, the still weak Cardassian realising that she was human and not more Jem’Hadar relinquished her.  
“Ah, the cavalry..” Gul Ganon said, his eyes appraising her “Took you long enough, i would have expected a Cardassian ship to get here first..” a question hung on the air  
“Noone knows where you are, Ciras sent me”  
“Ciras.. so .. she survived?” his look guarded. Rish nodded, unwilling to divulge her current situation. Instead she offered him the bowl of cooling vegetable stew  
“You must be hungry.. This isn't much, but your replicators are down” she apologized. Ganon eased himself into a sitting position, wincing a little  
“I don't recall being half-dressed..” he carefully took the bowl  
“You were almost dead with the cold”  
“I see” they ate in silence for a few minutes, the stew probably wasn’t good to Cardassian tastes, but it was hot and nutritious. As he ate a little colour returned to the Gul. Rish banked up the fire and took another helping of the stew. Gul Ganon stood, a slight wobble about him, and came over to the heat source “Blood wine?” he gestured to the case as he eased himself down next to her  
“It will be too heavy to carry, shame to waste it all” she agreed, and brought several bottles over “my ship is a day’s hike away. As soon as you are able we need to go, Ciras suggested it would be wise to be away from here before someone else found you”  
“I thought no one else knows where I am?”  
“Yes, she also said that” she eyed him suspiciously, there seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions, the Gul offered no answers. The crackling heat of the fire drew their attention, and they sat in uneasy silence for a while. Rish, slightly mesmerised by the real fire, it’s devouring glow burning up the ‘wood’ and sending sparks of embers up to the sky on a twirly smoke thermal. Her eyes followed it upwards until the red sparkles blended with the white sparkles of the galaxy above. A misty fog snaked in, then thickened, seemingly brought with the winds, reducing their world to the immediate area. The Gul had shifted as close to the fire as he could while still being sheltered by the pods doorway, gradually the sun gave up its indecently short day, and night drew in  
Rish was not convinced that the Cardassian would be sufficiently recovered to strike out in the morning, despite his protests. The fire seemed to have barely warmed him through, a six hour hike out in the snow was not appealing.   
Movement drew her attention back, the Cardassian had brought the pile of blankets over to the heat source and wriggled inside pulling off his shirt “Come,” he said, opening up his cocoon of blankets, his invitation clear. Rish eyed him suspiciously “Come now my dear, you clearly shared my bed last night, and it is barely any warmer now” She frowned, hesitating, he smiled “I’m hardly in any shape to cause you trouble, and I still need warming- i know, it is shameless but whos to know?”  
It was true, and in truth also, she had enjoyed the nearness of him. Shucking off her uniform once more - the Gul chuckled to himself as he made a point of looking away - she stripped to underwear and climbed in. This time, warmed by the fire he radiated some heat and with a happy sigh she took the same position - her back pressed into his chest. Ganon closed the covers and wrapped his arm around her, she stiffened slightly as he cupped her breast   
“Why so shy my dear?” he asked, using his free hand to draw hers down to her thighs “enjoy yourself, like you did last night” Ganon felt her shock as she tried to pull away, he laughed “oh, yes, I knew..” his breath on her ear, she felt his chufa brush against her cheek momentarily “Your pheromones and sweet scent- to a Cardassian nose it still clings to you, I can taste it on the air”  
Rish swallowed hard, burning - but if it was from chagrin or excitement she could not say  
“Ah well, your loss I guess,” He said, finally relinquishing her hand. Releasing a breath she did not know she held, she settled for sleep - damn Reptile!


	3. 3

A fierce storm rolled in overnight, bringing with it deep snow. Ruefully Rish wished she had the foresight to have gathered more of a stockpile the previous day. She had been so intent on leaving this frozen world she had not thought properly. The Gul it seemed was more aware of a planet's foibles. Wrapped in all the blankets he had stood in the doorway and dispassionately observed the fresh snow  
“We will have to wait here till this blows over, how far is your ship- which way?”  
“In this, at least six hours hike. It's all downhill though”  
“And your crew? Can they not bring the ship closer?”  
Rish eyed him cautiously, undecided just how much information to give him “I came alone, and there's nowhere closer to land it. The planet has some kind of interference, or I would have just beamed you aboard”  
The Gul looked surprised “I assume you knew that the Jem’Hadar were here?” She nodded  
“Ciras felt that if they had survived, by now they would have killed each other for the white”  
It was Ganon's turn to nod “Indeed, they did. Come, my temperature is dropping again” He opened his arms and with it the survival blankets “warm me, my dear.. Unless you intend for me to freeze to death after all your troubles” 

Rih shivered, not from cold but from need. She paused only to grab more blood wine and ration bars and joined him in the cocoon. Ganon sat with his back to the bulkhead, legs drawn up, and Rish settled in front leaning back on him. As she settled into him the deep rumble which she had heard before started again, more vibration than sound  
“Do forgive me, my dear- I mean no offense, it has been some time since I held a woman, and well, it is comforting”  
“Just remember I’m no comfort woman Ganon.” Her voice frosty   
“Of course not, my dear, but while we are here alone there is no harm in it” He drew one arm around her, and with the other picked up the blood wine and held it to her lips “you will have to forgive me though, we Cardassians seem to have an affect on other species” he leaned close she felt his chufa brush her cheek, his mouth to her ear, he whispered “Our pheromones you see, they tend to be slightly aphrodisiac” She felt his hand reach down, over her stomach and to her thighs, raising an instant heat in her. She shivered and despite herself parted her legs slightly. With a laugh, the Cardassian withdrew his hand and took a swig of the blood wine  
“Of course, I would not take advantage of you, we may be far from Cardassia and civilisation, but I would not be so disorderly” his voice twinkled, well aware of his affect. She cursed silently, but whether it was because he had stopped, or because of her reaction she was uncertain. Well, at least he was feeling stronger.  
“We will leave at first light,” Gul Ganon announced. They had been sat in silence for a few hours, dozing and sharing warmth and company  
“You’re sure?” Rish turned a little to face him, a frown of concern. She wanted off this planet as soon as possible, but she didn’t want to get halfway and end up dragging him. Probably the reward for a dead Gul would be limited. He nodded   
“Two weeks on this frozen hell hole I would be willing to do anything to get off. I can make the hike.. It has been too long since I felt the hot breath of Cardassia's sunbaked air on my scales. It is well and fine to serve the state and my family in the military, we are the shield that protects her" He spoke more for himself then for the alien woman in his arms "but out here, away from all that is civilised, it is a hard task. I am glad that it seems I will not die on this frozen world, the I will get the chance to fulfill my mission, and return to soak up her heat and love again" Rish had nothing to add, she would like to have felt insulted at the insinuation of Federation space being 'uncivilised' but she knew well enough how strict life was on Cardassia, under the dual watchful eyes of not only the military but also the Obsidian Order - the permissiveness of the Federation by contrast was shameless. Instead they lay down, the Gul tightly curled around Rish, his back warmed by the fire and her warmblood making up the shortfall. 

As soon as dawn broke they packed up everything they could carry. Gul Ganon insisted on bringing as much of the remaining blood wine as they could fit, despite Rish’s assurances of decent Kanar aboard the Mandrake. The fresh snow made for predictably heavy going, and the roar of the wind made conversation hard. A lesson learned, Rish stopped occasionally as the tricorder indicated edible plants and harvested them. Ganon would roll his eyes impatiently but tolerated the interruption.   
“You haven’t told me what Ciras’s plans for me are,” Ganon said at one foraging pit stop. She shot him a questioning glance  
“Ciras did not give explicit instructions. She inferred that the Founders would be pleased to see you ..”  
“Ah, I see.”   
Rish had finished her digging and they continued onwards. The open rocky ground had given way to patchy snow and dirt, thoroughly the domain of the mushroom trees before the Gul spoke again  
“I would rather not go directly to the Founders, these last two weeks stranded have, uh, given me time to reflect. I think it would be wise, if you can be persuaded, for me to contact a few friends - discreetly, before taking any action” Rish frowned at him “I will make sure that you are suitably reimbursed my dear” - the Cardassian reading her thoughts and cutting straight to the cusp of the matter, in true military form- leave the obfuscations to the Order. She nodded. It was clear that she had been drawn into something larger than a simple rescue, in truth nothing had rung true from the start. She cursed the patac Joe, why had she even gone there in the first place, and why had he given this piece of information to her and not one of his mercenary contacts. There were a lot of questions that needed answering, and clearly, this Gul would be the one to answer them

Despite the heavy going, they made good time. Ganon’s face a grim picture of determination, despite his complexion growing ever paler. Rish could only guess at the pain he felt as she shielded her face against the bite of the winds. Every step knee deep in snow, they fought their way onwards. Late afternoon the mushroom fronds gave way to the long clearing and the shape of the Mandrake became visible. The Cardassian, already leaning heavily on Rish, stumbled the last few feet to the door as his strength left with the last of his body heat.   
Groaning and cursing Rish dragged him into the ship.  
“Computer - increase temperature to 35 degrees”  
Rish had the Mandrake fired up and ready to take off when [alert. Unidentified vessel in orbit]   
Cursing Rish tried to cut through the planets interference to see which was up there  
"Rish to guest quarters 1" the intercom chipped happily "Ganon. We've got company. Drag your ass down here now!"   
"Acknowledged" His voice still strained. Moments later the turbo lift came, and unsteadily the Cardassian took a com station   
"Well. Give me some controls so I can look!" His voice blunt, obviously used to his position as commander, as he tapped at the dead con. She nodded and relinquished a deck of sensor and diagnostic controls to his panel.   
"So?"  
"Give me a moment. I can take a few guesses as to who it is, but I'm sure facts would be preferable" he frowned over the garbled data for a few moments, then added with a note of concern "I recommend shields my dear"   
Grimly she diverted as much power as she could spare  
"Who ever it is hasn't seen us yet - I guess the interference is jamming them as much as us" Ganon nodded  
"They seem to be doing sweeps. It's Cardassians " Gul Ganon did not sound pleased  
"So… that's good right?" Rish asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. With a broad smile he turned to her, and with an infuriatingly pleased tone said "I'm afraid not my dear. We will need to shoot our way out of this one"   
"Shoot??" Her voice incredulous "You have to be joking! I'm not firing on a damned Cardassian military ship, are you insane!?" His face hardened "call them up - you’re a Gul, right? Order them to stand down?"   
"I’m not sure that will help, and you will not leave this planet without me"   
Rish scowled for a moment, looking at the data pouring in. The Mandrake could fight her way out. She was heavily armed enough. But at what cost? Her warp signature would be all over subspace. Sneaking into dubious territories to mine precious ores and smuggling the odd case of Romulan ale was one thing, being an outright pirate quite the other. She had no intention of becoming a Marquis raider!   
"Rish, please. There is more at stake here than you realise" He sounded oddly sincere. She sighed.   
"I'm releasing the guns to you. If you want to shoot your own military you'd better get familiar. It looks like they will be on us in a few minutes "   
Ganon nodded, and gasped with surprise as the console flicked to life with new controls "my my" his fingers flying across the con, activating the weapons arrays with practiced ease "you are full of surprises my dear.. none of these are standard issue"  
Rish laughed "buckle up they've found us" the ship shook as it took incoming fire. She powered up the engines and the Mandrake leaped off the ground. The orbiting ship was indeed Cardassian, and not one but 3 lay in wait. They took more fire as Rish tore through the atmosphere, disregarding her evasion programs she flew manually, straight at the first ship   
"Yes. Good. Hold it" Ganon muttered as he acquired the target, still gathering up the multitude of weapons at his disposal "firing"   
They looked up at the view screen, the Mandrakes guns tore through the first ship like butter.  
"I'm being hailed" Rish frowned "Gul Dukat.. I'll put it on speaker only" Gul Ganon nodded   
"Greetings Mandrake" the Gul's voice sneered over the con "I see, no visual? - something to hide?"  
"I'm having some systems issues Dukat"   
"I see, nothing the matter with your weapons systems however" Rish remained silent but glared at Ganon. He remained impassive "I regret that the captain of the Bizok acted impetuously. I am sure we can talk about this, and come to a mutual understanding- wouldn't you agree?" Rish’s eyes flicked open with surprise. Dukat wanted this Cardassian Gul badly.. Badly enough to overlook the destruction of one of his fleet  
"I don't take kindly to being fired upon without warning Dukat"  
"Of course, and I deeply regret the Bizok's actions - I would offer to discipline the commander but well.." Dukat's voice trailer off pointedly  
"What do you want Dukat"   
"I am sure you are well aware of what I require" his voice holding a sneer "however if you wish I will spell it out. You have onboard a traitor to Cardassia and the Dominion and I would like him returned to me so that he can be punished." Rish frowned and severed the connection   
"Is that true Ganon? A traitor?"   
He sighed, rubbing the ridges of his eyes “No, it’s not true. I would never betray Cardassia- the Dominion, well that is another matter. Gul Dukat is the one poised to betray our empire, and the entire Alpha Quadrant. You must get us away from here so I can continue my mission"   
"We have 2 Keldon class ships with their weapons trained on us Ganon. The Mandrake is good, but she's not that good- how do you propose we do that?"  
"He won’t risk killing me," Ganon said after a pause "I have information he needs, that's why he’s here in the first place. If he wanted me dead we would already be a smoking hull"  
"so talk to him yourself!"   
"No," He said flatly, fingers moving across the controls with purpose again   
"Dukat is hailing us again. They've armed their phasers"  
"Just give me a moment"   
"We don't have a moment" the Mandrake rocked as Dukat's ship fired, power momentary dipped as the shields absorbed the punishment   
"That was just a warning shot," Ganon said still pouring over the console  
"No kidding" Rish pondered handing over the Gul and going back to her life - probably the Cardassians would overlook the destruction of the Bizok in exchange for the Gul  
"If you surrender me, I guarantee they will shoot you down. Tell them you will follow them to Terok Nor and make the exchange there"   
Rish nodded, she relayed her demands to Dukat’s ship and began plotting a course to the station while awaiting a reply  
"No. Take these coordinates- we can lose them in the badlands. I need to make contact with an old friend" Ganon sent flight instructions to the main con "from this system it will look like we are headed to Terok Nor, by the time they realize we will be in the plasma fields already"   
The com beeped, and Rish put Dukat through   
"Agreed. I am glad you see sense Mandrake - after you" he added with a sneer.


	4. Chapter 4

Deep in the plasma fields, the Mandrake shook off the pursuing Cardassians just as Ganon had predicted. Rish was still deeply unhappy about the destroyed Bizok, angering the former Prefect of Terok Nor was way worse than having a bad day. She was also surprised that Calm Horizons had not tried to contact her yet, surely Ciras would have wanted an update. 

Gul Ganon barely noticed the time passing as they had warped away from his crash site. He had retrieved an isolinear rod from his belongings and was focused on the readouts. He hunched over the con panel jabbing at the screen with impatience and occasionally muttering obscenities in Kardasi that the universal translator ignored. Rish assumed making contact with his “old friend” was proving problematic 

“Kanar?” Rish offered eventually, as his efforts seemed more frustrated  
“Hm?” Ganon looked up blankly, barely aware she had spoken  
“Here” she passed him a glass with the thick blue drink in it. He took it with a grimace “How long has it been?”  
“We lost Dukat about 2 hours ago - do you have a destination in mind, or am I doomed to wander the badlands forever - waiting for a passing Marquis to shoot us down?”  
Ganon sipped the drink “This tub can outshoot any of their boats” he gestured at the bridge, leaning back in the con chair “very nice ship you have”  
“For how much longer” she snorted “ Duakt hasn’t given up, how am I ever going to dock at Terok Nor again? Or anywhere in 50 light-years of here?”  
“That is the least of our worries. If I can't make contact then we have far bigger problems I’m afraid” Rish sighed and cursed Joe again. Suddenly the Cardassian let out a triumphant noise as a light flashed on the com board “I have isolated the symmetrical channel - now we wait for a reply!” Ganon turned to Rish, abandoning the console “So, is it customary for the captain to play host on human ships?” He smiled posessively at her “If you were on my ship I would be inviting you to dine in my quarters tonight.” 

She regarded him for a moment, the warmth of the Kanar spreading through her body. Ganon was an attractive man, she had always had a liking for the Cardassian form. Their serpentine looks raised a little thrill of danger, and their quick wit and natural confidence only added to that. The blind obedience to the state was a bit of a mood killer, but all species had their drawbacks. 

His pallor had gone with the warmth of the ship, and it seemed his strength had returned. He looked every bit a ‘Gul’, a self-assured military man, used to dishing out orders and having them obeyed. Rish thought back to the first night, how she had touched herself, and flushed bright red remembering how he had still smelled it. Gul Ganon smiled at her, his piercing eyes seemed to know exactly what she was remembering. It seemed humans, for all their evolving, had never left behind the urge to be physically close to another living being. Out in the unfathomable expanse of space that hunger had followed. Although she had never wanted to take a long-term mate many had shared her bed to alleviate that emptiness. Startled out of reverie, Rish realized she had been staring at her..passenger.. 

"Ah, yes well. If you insist.” she tried to break the uneasy silence she had created “Though it will still be replicated food."  
"But real Kanar!" Ganon smiled, a little too warmly. 

20:00 precisely her door chimed  
"Enter" the doors slid open, and Gul Ganon stepped in with an amazed look on his face. She noted that he had taken the time to shower, and to polish his armour. His hair was neatly oiled and swept back, and uniform clean and repaired.  
"This is not what I expected" He wandered around the suite without waiting for permission. In contrast to the rest of the banal Federation beige and white, almost austere ship, Rish's quarters were a riot of 'things'. Not that anything was untidy, but it was all 'real', nothing remained from the dry dock specs - aside from the replicator and few con panels. She had taken the time to paint the walls- a deep vibrant green, there was a wooden bookcase filled with actual books, Ganon appraised them briefly before moving on, a large cabinet with rare trinkets from all across the Alpha Quadrant - even a few choice items from Cardassia Prime- Ganon raised an eyebrow, surprised. There was, again wooden, a large dining table- Rish had already laid out an intimate setting for two, replicated Edosoan orchids decorated its top. Rish smiled at his surprise and gestured to a large chesterfield sofa   
"Please, sit" A small table held a pair of glasses and a fresh bottle of Kanar. Still somewhat stunned Ganon obeyed. Rish sat next to him and they drank the Kanar in an amiable silence for a few minutes, the times when they were not being shot at or pursued were likely to be far and few between, and as such deserved to be enjoyed to the full. Sensing that Rish was off guard Ganon gently pulled her close, drawing her back to lean on him, the same position as down on the freezing planet. He drew his arm around her. They sat amiably silent for a while, sipping kanar, and each lost in their own thoughts. It was Ganon who broke the silence   
" I am indebted to you for my rescue. Of course, I shall see that you are well rewarded, but in the meantime, if there is anything I can do you have only to ask" he hugged her tighter, his intention clear, no doubt aided by pheromones.  
Rish mulled that over, it was well known that, at certain times, Cardassians were literally walking aphrodisiac. They had a kind of heat, like the Vulcan Pon Farr, and it seemed to affect other humanoid species more strongly than their own females. Perhaps over the course of evolution, they had developed some resistance to it, after all, when it came to families the females, at least behind closed doors, lead the way. Ganon leaned his head close to her, breath on her ear, then again his sensitive chufa brushed her skin. He murmured something in Kardasi, quietly in her ear, the translator did not pick it up. His hand wandered over her breast. She gasped quietly, more aroused than really she should be, and felt his mouth at her neck nibbling and biting a little. His kisses intensified, Rish for a moment lost in his closeness, when teeth sank into her neck jarring her back.

"Hey!" she shoved him away "bloody hell Garon"   
She stomped over to a mirror and looked at the already purpling teeth marks on her neck. Rish glowered back at the unconcerned Cardassian, irritatingly sat sipping the last of the Kanar "That's going to need a dermal regeneration!"   
"I advise you to leave it be my dear. It will protect you at our next stop"   
Her mouth opened, a pointed question on her lips "No don't tell me. I'm sure I don't want to know"   
"Shall we eat?” Ganon said seating himself at the table “I should have a reply in a few hours then we can be off" 

Rish had the distinct impression that Ganon’s self invitation to dinner had purely been a set up. Knowing that in the closer quarters she would be less immune to his heat. She brooded over the food while -definitely back on form- the Cardassian did not stop talking. Although he said very little of merit, whenever she pressed him for information on what he had been doing in a Klingon warbird being shot up, he skillfully evaded the question. He was equally evasive about where they were going. In the end, to mollify her he promised that his friends would be skilled enough to disguise the Mandrake’s engine signature and allow her to return to normal life soon enough. His pessimistic opinions on the Dominion and Gul Dukat's posturing however gave her little cause for optimism. 

The rendezvous coordinates had taken them to a small moon orbiting an unimpressive dwarf sun, on the far side of the badlands. They had skirted the edge of Cardassian space to avoid the more tumultuous of the plasma fields and arrived at a small listening post with a very basic habitat attached.   
"We will have to beam over to them" Ganon informed Rish, he halted her half uttered protests "Noone will take your ship- These men have been waiting for me for a month now. Their heat will be strong, I need for them to know I have claimed you before they come aboard and are overwhelmed by your scent"   
Rish flushed uncomfortably.   
"I also suggest you use my first name - Yoen - it will help to show them that you are indeed my mate"   
"I think I'm getting a headache," Rish said flatly. 

Ganon - Yoen - had insisted Rish wear something “off the shoulder” to display his fresh bite mark clearly. She had made many grumbling noises, but in the end, acquiesced. Ganon had said, without saying, that three additional Cardassians in the heat would not be in her best interests without some protection, no matter how flimsy it seemed to her human eyes. Rish had varied opinions on that. Among all the humanoid species out in space, there exists still the wide rainbow of attraction, gender, and preferences. Opening the galaxy had fanned those flames not diminished them- of course, xenophobes still existed among all the species, but Rish was not one of them. She had always enjoyed new and exotic experiences. The Cardassians had always quickened her pulse, but the long and very formal courting rituals of their species bored her, and the life of a comfort woman was not for her, so it had always been a speculative interest. She wondered bitterly if this was why Joe had sent her to rescue Ganon, Ciras probably knew full well his 'condition'

They beamed down to the habitat area, it was pretty standard - set into a natural cave, with no attempt at home luxuries. A central living area had exits to some very basic sleeping rooms, a comms room, and then a corridor off to the actual communications array. It was typically Cardassian hot, Rish instantly started to sweat. The air smelled close, heavy, with a distinctly Cardassian scent, the air scrubbers were probably already failing. Nothing about this base looked like it was made to be lived in. The main room held a generic steel dining table, four of the hardest military-looking chairs that could possibly be requisitioned, and set into the wall a flickering Replimat which also looked like it had seen better days. A scruffy bench had served as a sofa at one point, but was currently loaded up with bags - Apparently, the Cardassians were packed and ready to go, she could not blame them.

The three resident Cardassians were eying her warily, mixed emotions in their eyes. There was still obvious surprise at the presence of a human female accompanying their Gul, perhaps they had expected a squad of Jem'Hadar   
“What kept you Ganon?” One of them spoke. Dark hollow eyes, the strain of being marooned but unable to use the listening array to call for help weighed clearly on his shoulders. His voice was quiet but measured.

Gul Ganon eyed him levelly “ Ayit! Yes, my arrival is unforgivably late. I ran into some trouble” Rish could hear him forcing good humor into this voice, these men clearly needed some hope to lift them.  
“We can see!” said another of the three with sarcasm dripping off his words “You took the time to slet that female tho” He sneered pointedly looking at Rish’s bare shoulders and the large purple bite mark  
Ganon laughed, “even at warp 8 space is a big place with the heat is upon you, as I’m sure you are aware Jondil”  
"It's even bigger trapped on this skrăgh moon"   
“So where in the great Legat’s of Cardassia's name have you been Ganon? I trust you have the Warbird?” This man seemed to be their leader, the other two - Ayit and Jondil - took defiant postures on the worn metal chairs leaving him to get answers from Ganon.  
“I was shot down, my ship and the Dominion ship. A squad of Jem’Hadar and myself made it to an escape pod, but their Vorta did not. They soon ran out of White and I fought them off while they killed each other"   
“The Vorta is dead?” Jondil asked, a frown of concern  
“No” Rish said, irked at being sidelined “She is being held at a junker yard"  
Ganon spun around “Held? That information would have been useful” Anger in his voice, Rish shrugged  
“Oh, well, what with all the Sletting I guess it slipped my mind Yoen” Ganon’s eyes blazed with anger and something else “No matter. We will deal with the Vorta when the time is right”  
“It seems your mate still has secrets from you Ganon” the leader laughed, though it was a little forced “You have marked her already, was that really wise?” Darkness etched his voice.   
“Keep your prUt in its Ajan Ghol. We have more important things to discuss.”  
“We have been here over a month waiting for you. Now you arrive with this female - I can smell her cef from across the room. You must have known”   
“I did not choose my rescuer Glinn Jondil, the Vorta sent her"  
Ghol laughed "That bitch, she knew exactly what she was doing."  
"Perhaps, but better than no rescue. Now, we must get to work. Dukat took potshots at us - if Rish had been a day later he would have found me first and you all would have died on this damn rock.” Ganon and Rish described the repairs needed, the Cardassians were suddenly all business, their need and heat pushed aside in good military fashion. 

"Rish, there are old federation parts in storage- you may find them salvageable"   
Rish nodded at Ajit and followed him. The base was larger than she had realised, and the storage bay large enough to house a couple of runabouts.   
"Here" the Cardassian pointed at a dusty pile of Starfleet cases. She frowned, they looked real old. She began sifting through the cases, when suddenly he was behind her, close. Startled, she stood up, Ajit grabbed her, hugging her to himself. She struggled for a moment, his eyes were wild, neck ridges visibly swollen and midnight blue. She felt a heat within herself respond, a flicker in his eyes told her he knew. In a now familiar gesture she felt his chufa brush against her skin, his mouth heading to her very exposed shoulders. Ajit was emitting that low rumble, its sound filled with need, she moaned despite herself and the peril. The pheromones overwhelming her. 

"Vilten Ajat! She is not a tahkkelivah" another untranslated word "let her be, your conduct is disorderly!" A voice bellowed, footsteps pounding across the expanse of the storage bay. Through a fog she dimly felt the Cardassian being ripped away from her, she whimpered. A punch was thrown, Ajat hit the ground, hard. A stinging slap to her face brought her back to reality- it was Ganon "do not go off without me again" He hissed. His own neck ridges inflating, darkening "you underestimate the peril you are in" his voice consumed momentarily with need as he smelled her arousal. Then, back under control with that fake good humor he added "besides, I will be the first one to take you" 

Angry at herself - and Ganon, and still smarting from the slap she tapped her com  
"Computer one to beam up"   
"that might be wise" The Gul muttered as she beamed away. 

The tension between the Cardassians only intensified aboard the Mandrake. As Ganon had predicted, the air on the small   
ship seemed to rile the new arrivals up. They constantly bickered and verbally jabbed at each other all the time they worked, when ever she was in earshot their bickering intensified. Only Ajat seemed slightly subdued, but she could feel his intense eyes on her almost constantly, though he dared not make another clumsy move. Rish retained the captain’s chair, but Ganon hovered behind it constantly. Reluctantly Rish had released more controls back to the crew cons, and the three Cardassians took stations, quickly familiarising themselves with the federation layouts. It became apparent that Jondil was the pilot, Ayit a gunner, and Ghol their engineer - they all deferred to the Gul.   
Ganon leaned over Rish, in that familiar gesture, breath on her ear, chufa brushing her skin, lips on her neck, and small nibbles as he reached over to her console and keyed in a destination  
“Helm” more little bites, Rish squirmed angry, but aroused - glad that the others had their backs to them “lay in a course to these coordinates”  
“Aye Sir” Jondils voice frosty. Rish flushed, suddenly aware that the others could more than likely smell her arousal. She coughed and pushed Ganon off of her with a scowl. He laughed. Rish brought up a map to see where he was taking them,  
“It’s Kionus 32” Ganon enlightened her “A small but flourishing Cardassian colony, strategically unimportant”  
“And then?”  
“That depends on what we find,” Ayit said, turning to fix Ganon with a scowl.   
“It is 3 days away, I am sure that gives us time to find out what awaits us” Ganon replied returning the look

Once the new crewmembers were satisfied that they were sufficiently familiar with the controls, they ran a few drills. Ganon had Rish leave the bridge “your scent is very distracting my dear '' she angrily protested, but, in truth, the assault of four in heat Cardassian males was disrupting her ability to function just as badly. She monitored the bridge from her quarters, unwilling to hand over any more of HER ship than she had to. Angrily she watched them, a tight military unit, clearly they had flown together before, they handled her ship far better than any mercenary crew ever had. Ayit and Ghol managed to tweak her shields and guns, they were stronger than ever, and as promised recalibrated the warp drive to emit a different signature. The com chimed, Ganon called her from the bridge  
“My dear, what name will you give her now?”  
Rish laughed “The Cho’ch” She could hear surprised choking coming from the bridge and smiled with amusement.  
“Ah, the Spear.. Very good” The com line went dead

Once underway, the new crew took turns to pick out quarters each, Ganon had moved into the ones next to Rish “..for appearances and your safety, my dear,” The others seemed glad to have some personal space again, with a sonic shower and working replicator. They all emerged looking cleaner and with refreshed uniforms. They would be in warp for the best part of three days, with only a few astrological maneuvers to hinder them, and for much of it they would be in Federation space. No doubt if stopped Rish would be the one doing the talking, at least she was still needed . She was not naive enough to be blind to the dangers, there would be little she could do if they decided to toss her out of an airlock in her sleep. With a frown, she decided to wear her phaser from now on, a point that was not lost on Ganon the next time he saw her. 

His shift apparently over, Ganon had left the bridge, but instead of going to his own quarters, he chimed on Rish’s door. With a questioning look she let him in   
“They will expect it, my dear,” he shrugged, not waiting to be invited in. He sprawled out across her sofa and patted the leather seat between his legs, a broad smile on his face "come sit with me my dear"   
She snorted "Does my bite mark need refreshing?" Undisguised sarcasm in her tone as she acquiesced. He drew his arms around her pulling her in to him, breathing in her smell, his chufa brushing her cheek. The effect of his alien pheromones was extraordinary, she had heard rumors of people using them to lure in sexual favours, bought illicitly on the black market. As she sunk against him, each breath carried her further and further away, her own desire rising. That low rumble started, deep in his chest, reverberating through his polished cuirass. It demanded surrender, she leaned her head right back against his shoulder, his breath catching, needy in her ear. Her neck and throat exposed, Ganon could resist it no longer, it begged to be bitten and licked, true she did not have those sweet scales a Cardassain woman would have, but her moans and whimper still sounded as good to his ear. These alien women were so.. indecent..  
"I'm..sure..it does'' his sentence punctuated by nibbles down her neck and shoulders "do you know, Rish, just how intimate this gesture is among Cardassians?" A little nip here and there now, she moaned wriggling blissfully under his lips "I may as well have been sletting you there on the bridge" now his tongue flicked out, licking here and there as she writhed, lost in his heat, his hands wandered under her top, possessing yet exploring "Perhaps you would even like that.. the Bajorans aren't this wanton.." the rumble in his chest loud and demanding "..I don't know why I wasted my time with those wretches''  
She surfaced, voice cross " married women, forcibly torn from their families aren't usually in to you.. aaagh" He sunk his teeth into her neck as a reply, arms gripping against her struggles  
"Such a pity" he chuckled, hanging on to her as she indignantly tried to free herself from his embrace, brought back to earth by the pain.


	5. 5

The Gul had stayed for a few hours, before slipping away at the next shift change. Rish felt like trash, she suspected that the Cardassian heat had somewhat of a withdrawal, she craved to be back under its influence, for her head to swim on that fog of bliss and lust again. Another part of her rejected the alien influence, knew it was not ‘her’ to act like that, she also was very aware of the three other men who could all over power her just as easily. She resolved to take the morning shift somewhat bloody mindedly, she would not hide away in her quarters like a ship's cat -but she would at least keep her phaser close to hand.   
She sifted through the Federation data banks looking for information on this heat, already it seemed that the males were very much a slave to it. Otherwise normal orderly military men, who would normally court their female counterparts for months on end, with an endlessly complex social network to traverse driven to wanton shameless acts. she could find nothing saying how long it lasted. In fact there was precious little hard information about Cardassain sexual activities, they seemed to keep it well under guard. If this heat cycle was as debilitating as it appeared it really was no surprise that it was kept secret. It did occur to her that the lengthy courtship was a prelude to entering this heat phase, or perhaps it was a defence mechanism developed by the females to distance themselves from this very primal, evolutionary leftover. A release mechanism from much more savage times. She wondered if it was normal for closely confined males to go into the heat at the same time or if this was a particularly unlucky situation. The com chirped, and interrupted her reveries  
“Bridge to Captain”  
“Go ahead”   
“We are being hailed by a Federation ship” she sighed, time for her to be useful.  
“On my way”

A few moments later she took the captain's chair, her console flashing wildly, apparently the Federation was already getting tetchy with the unanswered hail. The two Cardassians on duty looked tense, Ghol's finger hovered over the red alert button. She wiped away a sheen of perspiration, damn those reptiles!   
“Open a screen - keep it tight on me though” She took a deep breath as a stern looking Federation captain and science officer appeared on the views screen, their eyes flicking around even as the Captain spoke  
“This is the United Federation, USS Baltimore to unidentified Federation ship, you took your time answering my hail”   
“USS Baltimore, this the Spear - how can i assist you ?” she met the science officers suspicious glare unwaveringly  
“We detected unusual life signs on your ship, do you require assistance?” She frowned, unusual? The Cardassians must be masking their signatures somehow  
“No, Baltimore we are fine thankyou- is there anything else?” they collectively held their breaths on the Spear as the Federation captain muted the com channel and consulted again with his science officer. Clearly they wanted to investigate the unusual readings further, but were stuck for a good reason. Boarding another friendly vessel without good cause was still frowned upon, and she clearly was a human captain  
“Spear, you are very close to Cardassian space - you know we’re on the verge of war- what reason do you have for being out here? If a Dominion ship attacks you we won't be able to come to your aide”  
Rish felt two pairs of alien eyes on her, poised for her to falter, or say something stupid   
“Baltimore, I am delivering medical supplies to the Kinous 32 colony, then helping with the evacuation of Federation colonists” She suppressed a grin, the Cardassians didn’t know she knew the planet. The captain nodded, they would let her go “Spear out”  
Rish shot the Cardassians a weighted look. Her part in their plan was slowly becoming clear, she still felt angry at being used so badly, the Latinum had better be good. If she lived long enough to get paid, she thought wryly. 

The silence that filled the bridge after the Baltimore left laid thickly over them. The two Cardassians had exchanged looks, Rish knew that they wanted to talk alone and decided to give them that chance - after setting up a double blind surveillance feed."gelat anyone?" She offered as an excuse to leave the bridge. They both shook their heads "suit yourself"  
Rish ordered her drink in the rec room instead of her quarters, taking a relaxed seat tucked away but with a view of the corridor.  
It didn't take long, casually the other two Cardassians made their way back to the bridge. With a grin she sipped her gelat.

They were all on the bridge for about half an hour before Ganon emerged, he joined her in the rec room, with his own gelat in hand he squeezed himself behind her, arm protectively wrapped around her. Watching back the tapes it seemed, would have to wait.   
"What was that about?" She asked, giving in to his forced embrace  
"Hmm." He sipped the gelat, as if to take a pause for thought "I'm afraid, they feel like I'm keeping you from them, being rather selfish in not sharing the only comfort woman aboard" she snorted " yes I know… but primal urges are hard to ignore. I hope that they can ease the burden at our stop on Kinous"  
" ..and if they can't?" She asked, her voice a mix of emotions. His only answer was to hold her tighter, those little nibbles on her neck. She cursed again, overcome by the same primal urges that had a hold of these normally strong military men. His hand had wandered under her top, idly he cupped her breast "these fascinate me" he said, feeling the nipple respond to his touch. She squirmed, drowning in pheromones, mixed with her own need. Ganon set down his mug, and his other hand wandered down between her legs. She moaned, forgetting for that moment where they were, hips pressing up into his touch, his teeth biting now, again along her already bruised neck. She wondered what it would be like to inflict that upon his dark, puffed ridges. She groaned, the frustration of days of teasing taking its toll on her self control. She felt that exotic rumbling, then heard it. Like a cats purr but much more demanding, with a dangerous edge to it. Slet she was so close.   
A noise broke through her fog. She crashed back to earth. A chair being dragged across the floor. It was Ayit. The hands stopped, but did not withdraw. She groaned. She felt Ganon's chufa brushed the side of her face, the rumble replaced with a low chuckle. Angrily she pulled herself out of his embrace, and sat cross legged on the sofa, trying to control the blush on her face. These damn reptiles..   
Ayit sat, staring at her. His eyes again dark and wild, no doubt her cef was now tainting the air, driving them all that bit closer to the edge. What was the Gul’s game? He had said that he was protecting her from them by claiming her, but now she felt that there was some deeper motive. Perhaps the surveillance tapes would give her some answers. She considered making contact with calm horizons .. turning the Gul over to Ciras would be an easy out- but was she too far in now. Whatever these four were up to, it was bad enough to have Gul Dukat and the Dominion after them, and there was now the matter of the Bizouk. She sighed.   
Ayit was still staring at her. An idea crept into her mind, along with it a smile stole over her face. She turned and faced Ganon, half risen from the sofa. Holding his eyes for a moment she moved close, trailed a finger along his neck ridge. He sighed, a strange tense noise, that powerful rumble returned. With a laugh she bit down, on the darkest blue scales.   
A strangled noise escaped Ganon's lips as he frantically grabbed her, a crushing embrace, for the first time she felt hardness against her pelvis. She rubbed against it, a feeling of victory  
He cried out, Ayit, furious, banged his fist on the table and stormed out.   
"I've everted" he breathed, entirely unnecessarily, that much was obvious. She released him, eyes gloating, she had guessed right. Without a word she left, Ganon still reeling on the sofa, and locked the door to her quarters. It took barely five minutes for Ganon to follow, he pounded on the door when it did not open   
"Let me in!!" Happily she reclined on the sofa, glass of kanar in her hand. Let him suffer, let him be shamed. "Rish! I demand to be let in. You cannot do this!" She studied the kanar bottle for a few long moments, enjoying his distress immensely. She could wait no more, Rish went over to the door, and keyed it open, but stood blocking the entrance.   
"Yes?" The Gul glared at her  
"Let me in!"   
"Or else?" She smiled sweetly, her eyes wandering over his engorged ridges, they were so dark, they looked almost painful  
"Rish, please.." his voice begged but the undertone was dark with need - almost as dark as his scales. She laughed, and stepped aside. The door closed automatically behind him, and locked. She had played her hand. There was nothing left now between them.  
"Why didn't you say?" She asked him.  
"I'm still a Cardassian," he said simply. "Despite the rumours from Bajor, we have our ways, customs" 

He reached a hand out to the bruising bite mark on her neck, she shivered closing her eyes.’Hickeys’ were the domain of the youth among humanity, teens experimenting, in a way marking their first conquests in haphazard attempts to find their way into adult sexuality, largely discarded as maturity dragged them onwards. The allure of an alien mate always brought new surprises, sometimes the physiology would be too incompatible for pleasure to either party, and sometimes the differences enhanced the pleasure. The bites and kisses Ganon had showered her with had not felt juvenile. The dark need to claim her had blazed in his eyes, and she knew that the ridges they sported were primed for it, with their tough scales, and many nerve endings made the experience something else for those of his own species. 

That deep rumble began in his chest, at first just a vibration, then as she reached out, curiously touching his neck ridges it intensified   
“If you bite me like that again, i might loose all control” he warned, leaning in to assault her own neck and throat, she whimpered as his tongue flicked out over her skin.   
While she had no Cardassian ridges the throat was still a vulnerable, and erotic place, especially under this powerful, need filled alien. He directed her backwards to the sofa, with a grin Rish pushed him down and climbed on top of him. Eyes dancing as she took in the sight of him, knowing that given the similarity between Bajoran and human anatomy any surprises would be at least trifling. She kissed his chufa, and scowled at him as he tried to move to take control. His eyes dark and hungry, he relented, but she could tell, driven by his mating heat that he would not wait too long. She kissed him, lightly at first, gauging his reaction- not all species did that- but he parted hip lips, encouraging her tongue to explore as it wished. Hungrily she dived in, her hands already at his cuirass, while they kissed. She marvelled at the lightness of his tongue, not forked, but not ‘meaty’ either, so exotic, she wondered if he felt the same about hers. 

With a triumphant click she had his armour free’d and they parted lips momentarily to cast it away. She pounced back, this time exploring his ridges, from their origins- a few scales leading back down from the base of his ear, growing in size and number as they fanned out along his collar bone. She licked and nipped testing each scale for the best reaction, he growled and hissed, his hands gripped her hips tightly. She knew her nips were teases, frustrating him more than anything, torturing him, one scale seemed darker and slightly larger, he stiffened momentarily as her mouth hovered over it. She smiled, and lightly licked it, he hissed again, his rumble loud now. Then she bit, hard. He roared and grabbed her, holding her to him. He stood and carried her to the bed, as she released her teeth he threw her down, and tore off the rest of his clothes. 

His prUt was fully everted, Rish was so caught up in finally seeing it, that she had not thought to undress herself. Ganon was not going to wait. As soon as he was free he climbed on to the bed, almost tearing at her clothes, she moaned, her own need fired by his unbridled lust. This was going to be over far too quickly, she knew it, they both knew it. Nothing could slow them down. As soon as she was undressed he discarded the clothes forgotten on the floor, he scooped her legs up, and entered her in one fast, predatory motion. She gasped overwhelmed for a moment, pleasure, pain, fulfillment. The CArdassian PrUt, while not small, was not overly long, but it flared dramatically, filling her with exquisite pressures. She gasped for a few moments. Ganon was grinding against her, his eyes devouring the sight of her, drinking in his conquest, Rish looked up at him, her own eyes lust glazed, full of need for him. 

He smiled, knowingly, and started thrusting -evidence of past encounters with Bajorans. She moaned and whimpered, the Cardassian pheromones breaking down barriers she hadn’t known existed. He laughed, and leaned down to kiss her. Deftly she avoided his mouth, her teeth attacking his other neck ridge, this time she did not hold back, and sunk her teeth into him. He roared, and thrust hard into her, momentarily lost to sensation.   
She held him to her, continuing her assault, determined to leave her mark on him this time. There would be other times, when hse would get to properly explore his amazing body and learn its secrets, right now however they were both beyond that.  
There had been no words between them, just animalistic moans and hisses, there was no breath, or time for words, but as he changed his movement slightly, a delicious mixture of thrusting and grinding that would appease them both he gasped   
“zahsehv’l, I.. I.. want to fill you”   
“Yes.. fill me” she gasped between bites. Moments later she felt him, he roared and sunk his own teeth deep in her, breaching the pain/pleasure threshold, but she was already lost in her own release, shuddering as his seed over spilled and soaked the bed beneath her, the pain only drove her to new heights.  
They lay there, for a long few moments, Ganon felt relaxed for the first time since she met him. Eventually necessities forced them apart, as Ganon inverted more fluid spilled out of her in a gush. He laughed and kissed her, then reluctantly let her withdraw to the refresher.

Rish had managed to extract herself from the now colourfully bruised Gul long enough to review her security tapes, and paled as she realised just how close to losing control, and the ship she had come. Ghol had indeed take the precaution of disabling her surveillance, but he had not thought to check behind the blind walls she had in the system, he had them summoned Ganon and Jondil to the bridge  
“Yes. What is it?” Ganon had asked testily as he strode onto the bridge, she observed a few moments of silence while they eyed each other up, somewhat predictably it was Ayit who spoke first  
“Gul, with all due respect, that female is a liability”  
“We would be far more effective without her” Jondil agreed “How can we function like this?”  
Ganon remained silent, the atmosphere tense, Ayit took his silence as an agreement,and encouraged continued “We will be at Kinous in two days, if you want a human so badly just take one of the colonists. How do you know once we have the prisoner aboard that she won't release her and go running to the Federation?”  
Ghol nodded his agreement “It's a risk Ganon, don't we have enough risk already?”  
“No,” Gul Ganon’s voice was level, and decided “She will not do that”  
“How can you be sure? We can see that she has not chosen you .. that much is plain.” The Gul was standing with his back to the camera, but Rish could still clearly see him bristle on the play back. “She will, it does not matter though. With the Bizouk’s destruction she had as much at stake it this as us”  
Ayit snorted, launching himself from the chair “How can you possibly stand there and talk such nonsense. Has her cef addled your brains?? No human can possibly understand”  
“They will though” Ghol said “when the Jem’Hadar land on their Terra Prime.. Then they will know how it feels”  
“By then there will be no Cardassia” Ayit spat. Jondil nodded his agreement, Ghol slumped in his chair. Only Ganon stood his ground “No, she stays. We need a human witness to this, if this goes wrong we may still need a voice to the Federation” an angry noise from Ayit interrupted him “- as much as I also am loath to use it. If she does not choose me as her mate, Ayit- I WILL let you have her, then you may do as you please”   
“Have you heard from Tain?” Ayit asked   
“No,” Ganon acknowledged “not since he sent me to meet with the Vorta” Rish frowned, she knew that name… the Obsidian Order, but Tain was retired- if such a thing were possible. It made sense though. Gul Dukat was of course, following orders from Central Command, and if he were willing to fire upon Gul Ganon, then Ganon was not strictly on the same ‘side’. She frowned, trying to digest that piece of information. Was it possible that one of the four on her ship was actually from the Order? None of them seemed to be a good fit, but then the Cardassian Obsidian Order was quadrant renowned for its quality. Of course she would not be able to tell just like that.  
A cold shiver ran down Rish’s spine as she watched Ganon turn and march off the bridge- to the rec room. His prediction about her had certainly come true. A fresh surge of anger came over her, as she realised how thoroughly played she had been,she punched off the view screen.   
In truth however, as she reflected upon the recordings, Rish came to realise that the Gul was correct- about a lot of things. Cardassia was in grave danger, what her future held could only be desolation, whether as a smoking grave, destroyed by the war, or as an annex of the Dominion, stripped of its pride. Probably the thought of becoming a part of the Federation would be equally as humiliating. The Terrans were just as insidious as the Founders, true they offered a kind of peace, and hegemony, but to these great races - the Romulans, and Klingons included where was there any honour? Born in an outlying colony, far from Earth, Rish felt as far removed from Terrans, as she did from the Bajorans. Her only loyalty, really lay to herself, and to the Mandrake - and she had already betrayed her… the Cho’ch. She shook her head, angry with herself again.   
Yoen Ganon sauntered out of her refresher still naked and came to the sofa, surprised to see Rish not still in bed. She turned, eyes challenging “And just what were you going to let Ayit do to me?”  
His eyes narrowed for a moment, retracting the hand he had extended, it had almost reached her shoulder to caress one of the bite marks he was so enamoured with  
“zahsehv’I .. I had every faith in you my dear, Ayit is essential to our cause, but regrettably rather, impetuous..” There was a calmness surrounding Ganon now, she surmised that the heat, now acted upon had loosened its grip on him, the still dark scales shimmering along his neck told her that it had not gone entirely. He did not ask how she had eves dropped on their meeting, he was Cardassian afterall, he had lived with the Obsidian order’s black shadow monitoring everything. With a start, Rish realised that Ganon had meant for her to hear his comments, and assumed, when he came to the rec room that she knew his plan already.   
“Kanar?” she said brightly with a smile. 

The remaining journey to Kinous 32 passed uneventfully, when they had eventually emerged from Rish’s quarters there was a change in the males tension. They still very obviously were in the grip of the heat, but the sole female had made a choice, and somehow they were able to restrain themselves now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've written the next 5 chapters, but need to revise.. if anyone out there had read this far I would love some feedback on quality / etc - good and bad. I'm trying to use this as an exercise to improve my work before trying to write with known characters!

**Author's Note:**

> very happy for comments - good and bad.   
> I've not written for years, and not written a fan-fic before, which is why I have played safe and gone with Oc's I guess.


End file.
